Client Affairs

Private Bankers Sit Tight As Clients Stay Loyal To Firms, Not Managers - Report

Will Robins 8 October 2009

Private Bankers Sit Tight As Clients Stay Loyal To Firms, Not Managers - Report

Private Bankers are sitting tight for fear their clients will not follow them to their new employers, executives told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit.

According to a number of speakers at the events, private clients have tired of following their wealth managers around, opting instead to put their money in large, liquid banks.

"If in 2008 he could move 50 per cent of his clients, now he can move 30 per cent. And 30 per cent of 150 million is not going to pay for him to move over," Boris Collardi, chief executive of Julius Baer, is reported to have said.

Some private banks also seem reluctant to increase personnel, preferring to use the slow market to be picky and select the best candidates.

Julius Baer is aiming to hire only 40 or 50 new private bankers while Citi Private Bank has cut its workforce by 20 per cent, according to Samir Raslan, general manager for central, northern Europe, Africa and Turkey.

"We are hiring for specific markets, like the Middle East and Russia. We are not in an aggressive hiring mode," said Mr Raslan.

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